Been an Ironheart owner for over a year now and I saw there were a lot of interesting stuff being discussed here. Recently I've swapped some of the preamp tubes for a Tung Sol and an EHX to basically try to have more gain ( playing thrash and some other stuff ), but though it does have a bit more gain, I thought it was going to be more substantial. For those who've been experimenting with various preamp tubes, which place do you reckon would be best to put the different tubes ?
( the two others are the original JJ and a ruby )

I'm a new IRT Studio owner and new here as well... decided to join and post since this was the one forum that I learned the most about the IRT from. I read this thread in its entirety after I bought this amp and was disappointed in it. I learned a lot about it from this thread and had I read this before buying the amp I probably would not have gotten it.

Just wanted to say that when I first got my IRT Studio I was very underwhelmed with it. I play it through a Marshall 1960B 4x12 and it didn't sound all that big or great through it. That was until I put this EQ in the loop:

Now the IRT sounds huge and much more dynamic. This inexpensive EQ pedal not only added more low end and depth to the tone but it made the Reverb and Boost come alive. When I click those buttons on the foot controller you can really hear and feel the difference. The Rhythm and Lead channels both sound much better too. It made this amp so much more versatile. I was going to send this amp back but I think I will keep it now. I've never enjoyed playing more and am amazed at how versatile this amp is.

Did anyone ever come up with a fix for the popping sound when switching to the clean channel?

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In a lot of ways I wasted my money here on this Joyo EQ. It wasn't expensive but I discovered the 4CM with modelers and remembered I had a Digitech RP350. I can't do 4CM with the 350 but I did put it in the loop. I can do a lot more EQ options with the RP plus I can do FX. Really, really made this amp come alive and even change character. I can also do amp modeling this way (through the loop) as it bypasses the IRT Pregain and becomes a tube power amp. It even has a drum loop through the IRT this way

I also put it in front of the amp and turned off Amp and Cab modeling on the RP along with FX and used it as a dirt pedal, whammy, wah, volume (volume works in loop as well), etc. Really was nice... now I just need to find something that will do 4CM. I'm thinking the RP1000 since I am familiar with Digitech and then I can use it in front and in the loop at the same time.

The Digitech made this amp into a versatile beast well beyond what it already was. The cleans really sparkled more too.

I've owned this amp for almost 2 months now. At first I thought it sounded good enough with my les paul. My one gripe with it is that the eq section for each channel is very subtle - you'll mostly shape your tone with the 'tone' knob. That was until I threw in the MXR 10 Band EQ into the effects loop and an ISP Decimator into the chain.

I demo the result in this video, I'm liking the tone generated - what do you guys think?

currently have a eminence cannabis rex 50 watt 16ohm speaker in there.
Also have a TAD highgrade in v1, a gold lion in v2, and a EHX in v3.
Still have a lot of experimenting to do with preamp tubes and positions.
So far though, those 3 tubes have worked great!
I've got a pair of EHX 6l6 power tubes in there, which worked better than the stock ruby's or groove tubes I tried for a while.
Groove tubes weren't bad.
The biggest difference came when my bud helped me properly bias my amp. It came biased real cold from the factory and was almost set on giving up on the thing!
My bud got the amp running hotter and it deff came alive!
Also using a juice box attenuator which rocks!

I am looking for a modern high gain sound, something in the djenty range for lack of a better word
Tight, compressed, articulate, with balls and oomph and a bit of grit
Playing with a Schecter KM7 MK2 and everything is sounding great!
Got a lot of work ahead of me though, the amps got potential.

Considering upgrading the output and power transformers and adding a choke. The stock ones are puny

Looking at getting a different speaker and potentially building a 2x12 with the cannabis rex and whatever speaker I end up getting.
The HESU Demon has currently caught my attention.

Still like the idea of getting an EQ for the amp, but im still also shopping for the right overdrive pedal. Currently using a Visual sounds route 808 OD, think its modeled after a maxon 808?
Really like my bud's dead horse by pro tone!
Tried a palisades OD and also a pale horse from VFE.
Wasn't impressed by either.
Waiting on a Focus by VFE which I've got high hopes for, its supposed to be some kind of OD(minus the gain)/Comp/EQ pedal all in one.
Gonna see how that works before getting an EQ or compressor.

On that tone quest for sure >___<
Almost gave in for a PRS Archon

Aside from all that I do want some good effects like delay, reverb, chorus

I've had the IRT60H for over two years now and its still my favorite amp.

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Have you done any mods to it? What kind of speakers do you use wit it?
find any pedals that work good with it?
Also what kind of OD do you use, and do you use any compression or eq?

Have any luck retubing and biasing?

I've got a 30 watt ironheart combo currently which I was falling out of love with rapidly. Recently got it biased properly and threw in an attenuator and it sounds wayyyyy better.
The amp came alive, saturates better, compresses better, added some tightness and sizzle
Now im looking to further modify the amp to my liking.

As far as I can tell Laney biases the ironhearts very cold from the factory, bringing it up a good amount made all the difference.
Also cant sleep on the attenuator, got a juice box and I cant go back!
The Watt knob on the Laney aint much of an attenuator, it does do a decent job at lowering the volume but a real attenuator made a bigger difference.

Have you done any mods to it? What kind of speakers do you use wit it?
find any pedals that work good with it?
Also what kind of OD do you use, and do you use any compression or eq?

Have any luck retubing and biasing?

I've got a 30 watt ironheart combo currently which I was falling out of love with rapidly. Recently got it biased properly and threw in an attenuator and it sounds wayyyyy better.
The amp came alive, saturates better, compresses better, added some tightness and sizzle
Now im looking to further modify the amp to my liking.

As far as I can tell Laney biases the ironhearts very cold from the factory, bringing it up a good amount made all the difference.
Also cant sleep on the attenuator, got a juice box and I cant go back!
The Watt knob on the Laney aint much of an attenuator, it does do a decent job at lowering the volume but a real attenuator made a bigger difference.

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yes! This!

Biasing the amp helps BIG time. It's a bit of a pain in the ass since the pot is buried, but the amp just OPENS UP! so, so good.

As for the fx loop noise, I have never really noticed any issues with mine. Both the Boss NS-2 and the ISP decimator G string run both in front of the amp and in the fx loop simultaneously, so they pretty much take care of any and all noise issues. So something like either of those is HIGHLY recommended.

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I just read this. My amp used to get an FX loop noise, like there was a ground loop or something that would raise the noise floor when things were in the FX loop.

I sent it to the USA repair shop in NJ and they fixed it! I thought they would say "its normal" or something like that. Turn around less than a week.

The noise was not so bad that it was obviously broken, but it was annoying. It was possible to mostly cover it up with the noise gates, but it was still apparent in the tails.

Even fixed, its not a quiet amp, but the FX loop doesn't add to the problem any more. My solution for the noise this amp can generate is to use it with 4cm with my GT100. I use one of the built in boosts for a touch extra gain, and the built in noise gates track it much better than if I was trying to get all the gain from the amp.

So the tone I get is 90% ironheart, but I add a touch of grit from one of the stomp models for my highest gain leads.

IRT60

This is a weird amp. in some ways it seems kind of cheap and there are limitations, but its super versatile and records better than anything else I have owned. The push pull knobs let me sit the tone in the mix exactly how I want. Its as if it was designed with reamping in mind. I have complete control over power tube saturation with the wattage knob. And I can get anything from grainy to smooth. Does every level of gain really well from clean all the way to 95%. Needs a boost pedal for 100%.

I used to spend alot of time with tube swaps. Hot and bright are what it needs, but once you accept you will be using a boost pedal to get the extra gain, the tube swaps are kinda irrelevant.

I miss the tones of my ironheart 120watt (although I have a kemper now) so much so that I want to get the Laney Pulse stompbox (2 preamp tubes from the IRT range inside) to run infront of my amps (Laney claim it works as a boost pedal aswell as an amp in a box) to acquire back some of that nice Laney flavour I miss.

I use for practice and live atm an ENGL E530 preamp + Torpedo CAB for cab sounds > PA

I hope to have the Laney Pulse infront of the Engl as a tube boost. Plus would also allow me to create a all pedal rig if need be for the smaller shows using the Laney as the amp

I've got a Laney IRT120 and it's pissing me off. Have any of you had a situation where the crunch and lead volumes have to be on at least 7 to keep up with the clean volume on 2? I've emailed Laney and they just suggested swapping tubes. Which I did with no change. I played a gig with my friends band last weekend and he has a Mesa Mark V 25 and his dirty channel was on 4-4.5 and louder than my IRT120 on 7 and that's just ridiculous. Have any of you had this problem and have you found a solution? Thanks guy and I really hope I can find an answer because I love the Ironheart and don't wanna ditch it.

^ there's definitely something wrong there. i've got the Studio but i don't think it's that much different. i usually keep the clean volume at 3 and the rhythm and lead channels volume at no more than 2.

^ there's definitely something wrong there. i've got the Studio but i don't think it's that much different. i usually keep the clean volume at 3 and the rhythm and lead channels volume at no more than 2.

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Yeah... I'm just gonna have to send it in for warranty. Laney was kinda beating around the bush on it but after a few more emails they told me to just send it in. They could have just thrown that out instead of change the tubes. Good thing I had an extra set lying around I was gonna retube my 5150 with. lol

i picked up a Laney Pulse tube preamp/reamp pedal second hand of Ebay for a stupid cheap price because it worked fine BUT the previous owner had broken the LED's meaning the thing no longer glowed Red.

anyway I emailed Laney to see if I could send them it to be repaired so it glowed again, and their amazing customer service replied that they would do it for free for me :O amazing.

So Im sending them it tomorrow. It sounds so good and I cant wait to finally see what the thing looks like in the dark glowing Red!!

I have the ironheart 120 head. I've owned amps from Framus,egnater, mesa, engl, peavey, titan, peters, baron marshall etc and the ironheart is easily top 3 for amazing rock and metal tones. I wish the footswitch would control the loop, as well as do a couple other things my egnater armageddon's would do, but I do love this amp and it absolutely crushes live on stage.